The original chart in Omas Strickgeheimnisse* for Fischgräten is grid-free... but it’s not a stitch map. Rather, this German stitch dictionary displays its symbols stacked as if an invisible grid were keeping them in place. Despite its odd symbols (odd to my non-German eyes, anyway), the original chart actually has more in common with grid-based charts than stitch maps.

In contrast, the stitch map for Fischgräten both dispenses with the grid, and allows the symbols to take the same places as the stitches would in actual fabric. In the stitch map, we can see how the purl furrows will bend. We can see which way the knit stitches will lean. And we can see that the k2tog that begin at the bottom left of each motif form a continuous and smooth line to the motif’s upper right.

Which chart version would you rather knit from?

*This is an affiliate link. Buy the book from Amazon and I get a few pennies. Or if you’d rather support a small business, get it from Village Spinning & Weaving.

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